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Friday, June 17, 2011

Giveaway: The Astral by Kate Christensen


The Astral is a huge rose-colored old pile of an apart­ment building in the gentrifying neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. For decades it was the happy home (or so he thought) of the poet Harry Quirk and his wife, Luz, a nurse, and of their two children: Karina, now a fer­vent freegan, and Hector, now in the clutches of a cultish Christian community. But Luz has found (and destroyed) some poems of Harry’s that ignite her long-simmering sus­picions of infidelity, and he’s been summarily kicked out. He now has to reckon with the consequence of his literary, marital, financial, and parental failures (and perhaps oth­ers) and find his way forward—and back into Luz’s good graces.

Harry Quirk is, in short, a loser, living small and low in the water. But touched by Kate Christensen’s novelistic grace and acute perception, his floundering attempts to reach higher ground and forge a new life for himself become funny, bittersweet, and terrifically moving. She knows what secrets lurk in the hearts of men—and she turns them into literary art of the highest order.

This book is getting so much buzz!  I'm really excited to be a part of this giveaway.   I keep seeing it mentioned in newspapers and being added to those lists of books that you must read for the summer.  It also made it on Oprah's Summer Reading List.  I have my copy firmly in hand, now here's a chance for you to win a copy. 

The wonderful people at Doubleday have made this possible so we're going to follow their rules:  US addresses only, no P.O. Boxes. 

Just leave a comment below telling me one book on your summer reading list, make sure your email address is in your comment.  If you would like an additional entry, you can spread the word about this contest on your blog, twitter, facebook, etc.  Just leave the link in a separate comment.  I will randomly pick winners on June 24.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

One book that is on my summer reading list is Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier. Thanks for the giveaway
tanyainjville at yahoo dot com

Unknown said...

I grew up in Queens, New York and the setting of this novel seems like it would bring back memories. Please include me in the giveaway.
Mike
mikedraper1042@yahoo.com

If you get a chance, stop over at my blog and check out my current giveaway.

Tiffany Drew said...

One of the many, many books on my summer reading list is Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax. It looks like an excellent read. So does The Astral, I'd love to read it :) Thanks for the chance!

jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

Tiffany Drew said...

I also tweeted:

http://twitter.com/#!/enterthedrew/status/82506925647994880

jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

Jessica (Peace Love Books) said...

What I want to read this summer is all the Harry Potter books again since it's been awhile! Thanks so much for the giveaway! My email is teddybrgrrl@sbcglobal.net

-Jessica (Peace Love Books)

theoncominghope said...

I just finished the novel and I loved it almost despite myself. The blurb does make it sound pretentious, but it's very beautifully written and even surprising in places.

I wrote a full review here:
http://theoncominghope.blogspot.com/2011/07/book-review-kate-christensen-astral.html